Friday, 31 October 2014

This
post is still featuring my bird class outing and all the bird shots are taken at Kiltonga
Lake. Once again, thanks to Danny who is
an new member of the group, some of the shots are his.

Black
headed gull and Shoveler.

When
I discovered there were Gadwell on the faraway bank of the lake, I pointed them
out to Danny first so he could take photographs while I organised that the rest
of the groups saw them through my telescope.
It was difficult for some of the group to distinguish between a female
Gadwell and a female Mallard especially when they were not with their own males however
all managed it in the end. There is a male Shoveler on the right of this shot

Mallard
female and Gadwell female

Mallard
female, Gadwell female and juvenile Herring gull. I hope you have been able to distinguish the differences the different ducks.

This
last shot is of the bird group (taken at the Flood gates – Tuesday’s post) and where
Danny who is the member in the black hat, is setting up his camera to photograph the Brent geese. Many thanks to him for his contribution of photographs in this post enabling me to do some more teaching.

I
hope you enjoyed this post and encourage you will look in tomorrow as I am
showing you a group of Elephants that we had to back off from in a game park in
Malawi.

Thursday, 30 October 2014

Following on from Monday’s post when I took my bird
class to the Flood Gates and then to Kiltonga Lake, these are some more of the
shots I took that day. After that I made
my way to Bangor Walled Garden where I took the rest of the photographs. I am linking this post with GOOD FENCES. So
enjoy and may your Thursday be a bright one.

Aiden is looking though my telescope at the thousands of Pale bellied Brent and
much more.

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

This
is a short post because these Eland Antelope appeared very suddenly on the right of the vehicle and disappeared within a minute back into the bush. The Bull brought up the rear. Males are bigger than females.

Their
coat differs geographically, with Elands in north Africa having distinctive
markings (torso stripes, markings on legs, dark garters and a spinal crest)
that are absent in the south. Apart from a rough mane, the coat is smooth.

Both
sexes have horns with a steady spiral ridge (resembling that of the bushbuck).
The horns are visible as small buds in newborns and grow rapidly during the
first seven months. The horns of males
are thicker and shorter than those of females and have a tighter spiral. Males
use their horns during rutting season to wrestle and butt heads with rivals,
while females use their horns to protect their young from predators.

The
Eland is the slowest antelope, with a peak speed of 25 miles per hour
that tires them quickly. However, they can maintain a 14 miles per hour trot
indefinitely. They are capable of jumping up to 8 ft 2 in from a standing start
when startled, 9.8 ft for young Elands. It's life expectancy is generally
between 15 and 20 years; in captivity some live up to 25 years.

Usually,
a female chooses the most dominant and fit male to mate with. Sometimes she
runs away from males trying to mate, causing more attraction. This results in
fights between males, in which their hard horns are used. It is 2–4 hours
before a female allows a male to mount. Males usually keep close contact with
females in the mating period. The dominant male can mate with more than one
female.[ Females have a gestation period
of 9 months, and give birth to only one calf each time.

I
have a very short video that can be accessed at

http://youtu.be/Qij7LlZz16M

If
there is a black space below, click it and the video will appear.

This
is yet another animal that I had never seen before so I hope you enjoyed the
post.

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

My
bird group went to the Flood Gates in Newtownards where about 30,000 Pale bellied
Brent geese had arrived from Iceland. We were also pleased to see that the Pintail
ducks had arrived for the winter. We had
a new member called Danny with a big camera and some of the shots are his and I
will be showing more photographs from this morning’s outing on Thursday and Friday.
All in all, we saw 30 different species
of birds in just over 2 hours.

Also this post is especially for Jo from Memorable Meanders as last week she said she had never seen a Brent goose or Pintail
duck. Above is a mixture of Brent and Pintail.

Pintail above and below.

Lapwing

Oystercatcher and Pale bellied Brent goose

Some
of the bird class – not much bird watching going on there!!

Mr
and Mrs Mallard

Pintail
with 1 Shelduck

Pale
bellied Brent goose

We
moved from the flood Gates to Kiltonga Lake where this Grey Heron had just taken off
along with the Black headed gull.

The
Grey Heron landed on this blue container (above)

before taking off again (below)

Now,
the next day, was the day of quite high winds and I thought you might like to see a few shots as I made my way
around the coast at my town. There were 7 naval ships on exercises in the Lough along with many more ships sheltering.

Birds
were trying to keep their feet on the ground.
Above is an adult Herring gull and below is a juvenile Herring gull.

Redshank

Cormorant

Now I have a short video of the some of the birds I saw
at the Flood Gates (the second clip I have made in slow motion) and the birds taking to the air are the Brent geese. I have added the video of the rough seas in
Belfast Lough.

It can be accessed at

http://youtu.be/ahgm8KA09fA

If there is a black space below, click it and the video will appear.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this mixed post. Thank you Danny for your contribution. I am linking this post with WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.Thank you for visiting and also for all your comments

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About Me

I have retired from a medical background, as well as teaching a 3 year City and Guilds; and also running a Bed and Breakfast. I have taken up bird watching later in life however I became very enthusiastic from the beginning and was greatly encouraged by other bird watchers. For the past 9 years I have led a bird group in my town and have become a guest speaker on cruise ships talking about Birds around the world. I have travelled quite a bit, in particular to Australia where one of my daughters lives. I have now as many birding friends there as at home in Northern Ireland. I love Nature and being able to share that with others of like mind. I also like photography and do my best to photograph birds although I seem to be also very eclectic in what I photograph and blog these days.
I live in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK and it is a beautiful place to live however I love travelling to see places and birds that I have never seen before.